


there was an idea

by Kerryl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awkward Marinette Dupain-Cheng, He had to, I couldn't help it you guys, Identity Reveal, Master Fu had to pull a Nick Fury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 23:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19711357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerryl/pseuds/Kerryl
Summary: In one universe, an old Chinese man in Paris is kind of a Nick Fury fan.Or, Master Fu reveals the secret identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir like he's recruiting for SHIELD.





	there was an idea

"Tikki, are you sure I have to go to this park?"

"Yes, Marinette. It's the third bench, trust me."

Marinette peeks around the wall to look for the bench. It's occupied.  
"There's someone there."

"That's okay, just go over there and sit down."

But are you _sure_ -"

"Marinette, I am over two thousand years old, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay, okay!" She closes the purse and takes a deep breath before marching over to-

Oh, zut _alors._  
It's Adrien.

Marinette freezes, and for a moment, genuinely contemplates cravenly running away and quivering behind the nearest bush. She's always a mess in front of Adrien, stammering and fumbling and going as red as her Miraculous. So what if she ditches whoever Tiki wants her to meet at this bench? But no, she has to be here, it's a responsibility that comes with being Ladybug...  
As she argues with herself in her head, the current occupant of the bench and frequent occupant of her thoughts looks up from his phone and sees her.

"Marinette!"

Marinette jumps. "Adrien!" Her voice has also jumped. It’s jumped one and a half octaves, to be precise. "Hi, what are you doing here?" _Wow, a full sentence. Good job, Mari._

"Just waiting for someone. You?"

"Me too! I mean. I'm waiting here for someone. Also. Like you! But not you-" What is she saying? She takes another deep breath, to steady herself. "I'm supposed to meet someone here."

"Maybe it's the same person," Adrien jokes. Marinette laughs nervously.

"Yeah, maybe." Not. Tikki told her to come here, and it was superhero business. Ladybug business. The kwami had been vague about the identity of this Guardian of the Miraculouses but had stressed the importance of doing this. Pity Adrien was here though. Well, not pity, it was good to see Adrien, but he was a civilian and probably shouldn't be around if anything Ladybug related was going to happen.

Adrien watches Marinette zone out and have a conversation in her head. _Funny she's here,_ he thinks, _at the very time and place I'm at because Plagg wants me to meet a Guardian._ Plagg had told him it was something he had to do as Chat Noir, but it’s odd that a civilian, even a nice person like Marinette, is here. Adrien shakes himself out of his thoughts and refocuses on Marinette, still standing and staring into space.

"Do you want to sit down?"  
Marinette blinks at him. "Oh! Oh, yeah, thank you." She perches on the edge of the bench, as far away from him as possible.

The combined stress of Adrien's proximity and nervousness about meeting the Guardian is showing. Marinette is breathing too fast. Her heart is pounding. Part of her wants to open her purse, let Tikki out, and transform into Ladybug to go sit somewhere else. Like on a roof. Impossible, of course. The other people in the park may be too far away to notice her, but _Adrien_ is _right next to her,_ and Ladybug does attract attention.

"S-so, Adrien!" she says, to distract herself. "Have you seen Nino recently?"  
She mentally kicks herself. It's Tuesday afternoon. They both had just seen Nino at school.

Adrien looks a little puzzled, but decides to take her question in a looser sense. "Outside of school? No, not really. My dad's launching a new line, and he's been rescheduling even my fencing classes. This is my first afternoon off in a while, actually."

"Oh, are you waiting for him? Nino, I mean."

Adrien isn't sure how to respond to that. "No, he had a family thing. I'm meeting someone for...work." He mentally congratulates himself on that dodge. Waiting here sounds like a modelling thing now.

"Oh." _But he said it was his afternoon off..?_ "Well, it's a nice place to have a meeting." She's having a functional conversation with Adrien! 

"Yeah, it is," he says, and smiles. This has the immediate effect of making her instantly flustered and unable to continue a conversation. She settles for smiling awkwardly at him and muttering something about texting Alya. She takes out her phone and pretends to type.

 _So that's who she's meeting,_ Adrien thinks idly. _Could've just said so. Maybe that's why she asked about Nino._  
They sit there for a minute, Marinette scrolling through her phone to avoid embarrassing herself too much in front of Adrien, Adrien examining his fingernails and occasionally watching his companion out of the corner of his eye.

A shadow falls over them and they look up.

In front of the two teenagers stands a short bearded man in a brightly printed floral shirt and capris. "Ah. Marinette. Adrien."

They both start and stare at the man.

_Is this who Tiki wanted me to meet? But -_

_-if this is the Guardian, why is Marinette here?_

_-why is Adrien here?_

The old man smiles, enigmatically, as if he can read their minds. "I am Master Fu. You don't know me, but -"  
"You were the man crossing the road!" Marinette says suddenly. "You nearly got hit by a car, the day I-" she stops, flushing.  
"First day of school," Adrien remembers. "You fell down in front of me."

Marinette cuts him a sharp look. The first day of school was the day she'd gotten her Miraculous and met Tiki. It was also the day she'd helped Master Fu. If this was a coincidence, it was pretty crazy.

Master Fu nods. "Yes. And I wanted to meet the two of you again. You need my help."

Unknown to each other, both Adrien and Marinette think about what their kwamis told them the day they accepted their powers.  
_There was an idea, to bring together a group of people, and give them powers, to fight battles that nobody else could..._  
Master Fu's gaze on them is intense, but amused. "I'm here to talk to you about the Miraculous Initiative."

Tiki and Plagg burst out of their respective hiding places, colliding to greet each other and Master Fu. Marinette feels like she's stopped breathing.

"For months you two have fought in battles, side by side, never knowing each other. I want you to win that battle, and save the moth Miraculous. For that you need the help of a Guardian." Master Fu gestures to himself, and they gasp as a turtle kwami appears over his shoulder to cries of glee from Tiki and Plagg. "Together, we can stop Hawkmoth."

The two teenagers reel from the implications of this encounter. _Adrien is Chat Noir. Marinette is Ladybug._ And a quiet voice in both their heads: _My crush likes me?_

Master Fu clears his throat to catch their attention. "Come with me. There's work to be done, and things to be learned." He puts a hand on each of their shoulders. "Paris needs Ladybug and Chat Noir."


End file.
